The Burlington firefighters were doomed from the start of Friday afternoon’s “5th Graders vs. Firefighters” game show, when three Grove Park Elementary 5th graders nailed the answer to their first fire safety question. With an eventual score of 6-5, the Grove Park kids showed they knew more about fire safety and prevention than some firefighters can remember from 5th grade.

As part of Burlington’s Fire Safety Month, the local firefighters were visiting schools and teaching important fire safety tips to the youngest students, and quizzing the older kids on what they already knew. The students in Pre-K through 2nd grade were treated to a puppet show, which used revamped lyrics of popular songs to teach them how to stay safe in case of a house fire.

“They’re learning fire safety, and 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders should know it,” said Capt. Nim Harris, fire and life safety educator with the Burlington Fire Department. “So that’s when we try and quiz them and have fun.”

The puppet show taught lessons about keeping and maintaining a working smoke alarm in the house, with the puppets singing, “Tell me more, tell me more, you must test once a month,” to the tune of Grease’s “Summer Nights.”

Harris took a smoke alarm into the audience of children and taught them how to press the test button, telling them to remind their parents or guardians to test the smoke alarms once a month, and change their batteries twice a year.

“We suggest you change your batteries when you change your clocks (during Daylight Savings), as a way to remember,” he said.

The puppets also sang “Puppets in Black” to the tune of “Men in Black,” to let kids know that if firefighters ever enter their home to put out a fire, they’ll be wearing black turnout gear — which can be frightening to children, said Harris. He said the music the Burlington Fire Department uses for the puppet show was originally rewritten for fire safety classes by the Colorado Springs Fire Department about a decade ago.

Students learned to “Stop, Drop and Roll,” (sung to the tune of “Jump, Jive and Wail”) in case their clothes ever caught on fire, to stay low to the ground if smoke is in a room, to learn at least two ways out of their bedrooms in case of a house fire and then meet at a designated family meeting place, and to call 911 in cases of emergency.

The 3rd-5th grade classes were entertained by a close game of “5th Graders vs. Firefighters,” modeled after the “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” television show. The firefighters had to answer questions from multiple subjects at the 3rd-5th grade levels, and the students were quizzed on fire safety knowledge.

Page 2 of 3 - “The questions are fairly simple, but it opens the door for me to elaborate on them,” Harris said.

LAST WEEK’S CLASSROOM gameshows and puppet shows are part of the Burlington Fire Department’s effort to reinforce basic fire prevention and fire safety knowledge during the month of October. Harris wants people to know that in addition to visiting schools, the department offers fire safety classes all throughout the year — and he knows they make a difference.

“We can tailor the fire safety classes for specific settings,” from businesses to day care facilities or even at an individual’s home, said Harris. And while children do take the information they’ve learned home to parents and guardians, Harris said adults can definitely benefit from taking classes themselves.

“We had two fatalities in the city this year. They actually occurred within a week,” said Harris. “We would’ve had our third fatality in a week, had it not been for this one particular lady going through one of our classes.”

Harris said the woman is a director of a senior day care program that has hosted several of the Burlington Fire Department’s safety classes in the past. After one meeting, the woman told Harris that after her first fire safety class, she knew to test all her smoke alarms and ended up replacing one that didn’t work. She also purchased a fire extinguisher, which she’d learned to use during one of the safety classes.

Harris said one night this year, “She was asleep, the smoke alarms woke her up. She had flames on the stove.” Because the woman had functioning smoke alarms, she was awoken to danger, and because she’d learned how to use the fire extinguisher, she was able to contain the fire and keep it from spreading and burning down her house.

Harris said many people know about fire extinguishers, but not necessarily how to use them. “A lot of people don’t understand how fires actually occur,” he said. “If you understand the theory of fire … then fire extinguishers are more effective,” said Harris.

For a fire to occur, there needs to be a heat source, a fuel source, and oxygen, he said. “Those three things combined is a chemical reaction, which is the fourth … technical aspect of a fire,” he said.

So to eliminate the fire, one has to cool the fuel source down so the vapor is removed from the chemical reaction, since the vapor essentially becomes the flame of a fire, said Harris. He said a fire extinguisher can be used to displace the oxygen in the equation, suffocating the fire. Harris said the proper way to use an extinguisher is to aim the spray at the base of the fire, sweeping back and forth, as if painting with spray paint.

Page 3 of 3 - Harris said when firefighters come onto the scene of a fire, “The damage is done — we’re just trying to reduce the impact.” He said real fire safety is about prevention and preparation, which is why the Burlington Fire Department goes to so much effort to educate kids and adults through October – and the rest of the year.

For more information about free fire safety classes for your business, home or other location, contact Capt. Nim Harris at 336-229-3132 or nharris@ci.burlington.nc.us, and check out “Burlington Fire, NC” on Facebook.

Fire Safety Tips

Install smoke alarms in every room except the kitchen.

Test each smoke alarm once a month, and change the batteries twice a year.

Establish a family escape plan with a meeting place and practice it once a month when testing smoke alarms.

Make sure children know how to dial “911” from house phones and cell phones.

Make sure children have – and know of – two ways out of their bedrooms, in case a door is blocked by smoke/fire.